The God Realm remained miraculously peaceful for fifty years. Inside the Timewheel Bracelet, Evan had spent the equivalent of five thousand years, successfully breaking through to the peak of mid God-Emperor Realm. However, he showed no sign of advancing to late God-Emperor.
He'd been stuck at the peak of mid God-Emperor for nearly a thousand years with no progress, so he stopped cultivating. To break through now would require either a flash of enlightenment or an unexpected opportunity. During those five thousand years, Elena Rainveil had stayed by Evan's side.
Though she couldn't cultivate, she could still meditate. By now, her state of mind had reached the peak of late God-Venerable Realm. One day, she could potentially break through into the legendary God-Sovereign Realm—but all of that would have to wait until she obtained Divine Phoenix Blood.
"Evan, we've been here for about five thousand years now, haven't we? Blue-Shade should be arriving soon. I wonder if he brought any news about Roxanne this time. Seeing you train day and night, I'm really moved." Leaning against Evan beside a beautiful waterfall, Elena Rainveil spoke softly.
"Moved? Why would you be moved? If Blue-Shade shows up, I'll know right away, so don't worry about it. How are you feeling now?" Evan gently stroked Elena Rainveil's hair as he asked.
"Other than not being able to use Divine Power, everything else is normal. You really don't need to worry about me. As for being moved—it's because you're working so hard to get stronger, for my sake, and for Frostbane Divine Palace too. Now that you've reached the peak of mid God-Emperor, it's almost impossible to break through just by training here. You need to go out and temper yourself."
A lot of times, a real battle can push you to break through. In the God Realm, plenty of people like to challenge opponents to raise their strength. You could do the same—especially in moments of danger, breakthroughs are more likely to happen," Elena Rainveil said.
"That's exactly what I was thinking. As soon as Blue-Shade gets here, I'm going with him to check out that secret realm. Elena, how much do you know about it? From the way Blue-Shade talked, it sounds seriously dangerous," Evan asked.
"There are several secret realms in the God Realm. Most of them are classified as forbidden zones, mainly because they're so deadly. When I was just mid-stage God-Venerable, I entered one and almost lost my life.
If you want to go, Blue-Shade absolutely has to go with you. Of all the secret realms, the Heaven-Veiling Secret Realm under Lost Gods Valley's control is the most terrifying. Rumor has it that it contains many ancient ferocious beasts, all at the God-Venerable Realm, very different from the organized divine-beast clans in the God Realm.
Lost Gods Valley itself is also an extremely dangerous place. Normally, its people rarely interact with outsiders, but everyone knows Lost Gods Valley is one of the Ten Great Powers. The main reason is that they possess an incredibly domineering martial art—Heaven-Phantom Thunder Cleave!" Elena Rainveil said seriously.
"Heaven-Phantom Thunder Cleave? Just the name sounds fierce. Is it stronger than my Sevenfold Absolute Cleave? Or maybe Blue-Shade's Wind-God Sword Art?" Evan asked.
"Heaven-Phantom Thunder Cleave is ranked about third among the Top Ten Divine Arts. Your Sevenfold Absolute Cleave is probably fourth. In terms of raw power, they're pretty similar, but one's single-target and the other's area-of-effect."
Heaven-Phantom Thunder Cleave can kill everyone within a five-hundred-li radius in one move, whereas your Sevenfold Absolute Cleave can't do that. But when it comes to one-on-one, Sevenfold Absolute Cleave is actually stronger.
As for Blue-Shade's Wind-God Sword Art, it's a bit weaker, but it's still one of the Top Ten Divine Arts. The fact that he passed it on to you means he really values you," Elena Rainveil said.
"Then which one's ranked first, and which is second?" Evan hadn't expected his proud Sevenfold Absolute Cleave to only be fourth. The top two arts must be unimaginably powerful.
"Heavenblade Sect's Chaos Godslayer Sword Art is the number-one divine art in the God Realm. Supposedly, the Chaos Godslayer Sword Art has ten forms, but even the Heavenblade Sect Master has only reached the eighth. That eighth form alone made Heavenblade Sect the strongest faction in the God Realm."
But the Heavenblade Sect Master has been in seclusion for tens of millions of years, just trying to comprehend the last two forms. If he really masters them, I don't think anyone in the God Realm could be his match—even if the Crimson Demon Star appeared, he might be unbeatable. If he comes out this time, he could break into a legendary realm nobody's ever seen before.
The second-strongest art is the Ninefold Stellar Transformation—the very technique you practice. Nobody's ever reached perfection with it either, but those who do train it get a truly heaven-defying skill: domain power. The nine domains are absolutely terrifying, each able to suppress even top experts.
If you could use domain power right now, even when I was uninjured at late God-Venerable, you could trap me for several breaths—maybe even longer. That would easily give you time to escape. But to actually awaken domain power, you need to be at least God-Venerable Realm or higher," Elena Rainveil said.
Hearing this, Evan suddenly understood—he couldn't form a domain simply because his cultivation realm wasn't high enough. Only after reaching the God-Venerable Realm could he grasp domain power. Just imagine: with the strength of a mere God-Emperor, being able to restrain a late God-Venerable for several breaths... These nine domains are truly terrifying, each capable of suppressing even the strongest opponents.
Thinking about how terrifying the Heavenblade Sect Master would be if he emerged from seclusion, Evan felt a sense of powerlessness. If it was really the Heavenblade Sect Master who schemed against him back then, getting revenge would be nearly impossible—unless he could master Ninefold Stellar Transformation to perfection, and fully channel the Stellar Power of the Big Dipper.
Seeing Evan frowning deep in thought, Elena Rainveil asked, "Evan, what's on your mind? Don't push yourself too hard. You can't advance your cultivation in just a day or two. It took us tens of millions of years to reach late God-Venerable."
But trying to go even further is extremely difficult, like there's some invisible shackle holding us back. Unless we can break that constraint, we'll never reach a higher realm."
"I'm not thinking about anything in particular. Has the Heavenblade Sect Master broken through to that legendary realm yet? He fought in the War of the Gods, right? Any idea what happened to him?" Evan asked.
"It's better you don't know for now. The War of the Gods is a scar in every expert's heart—countless masters fell. When you're stronger, I'll tell you everything. For now, knowing too much will only disturb your mind and make cultivating even harder," Elena Rainveil said.
Evan didn't say another word. The two of them quietly leaned against each other by the waterfall. For them, time was cheap—half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, Evan suddenly said, "Elena, Blue-Shade's here. I'll go bring him in, wait for me here!" With that, Evan's figure flashed and disappeared from Elena Rainveil's sight, setting up the next chapter.